Originally posted by OneMoreTry
You may be talking to a person online, but everything is done on the computer. If the existing computer can handle all the eventualities -- banking, borrowing, dealing with multiple contracts, requests, changes, wait lists, etc, etc, etc -- then so could an on line system.
It would just need a different interface -- one that members could use. MS doesn't have super geniuses working there that can juggle all these things and remember wait lists and point balances. The computer does it all now. Just gives us access and
away we go!
<font face="times" size="+0">This is very true.
I do have to add that there are some booking situations which I think
DVC should never allow members to do online by themselves w/o the assistance of MS. I think the following types of bookings should only be done by calling in and speaking with a MS Cast Member:
1) Booking a reservation that requires borrowing points.
2) Booking a reservation in someone else's name (NOT the owner's name).
3) Booking a reservation where the Arrival Date is coming up in 30 days or less.
4) Booking a reservation where you own two separate Memberships and need to combine points (i.e. transfer points around between two different Membership#s that you own).
There might be a few other situations that I can't think of right now, but basically the above 4 all have some security issue or irreversible consequences that I would feel more comfortable actually speaking to MS on the phone about.
But for reservations 31+ days out, even the ones that use banked/transferred/holding points that might be from different contracts (note that what I mean by the term
contracts is different from
memberships mentioned in #4 above)... those I would be perfectly fine with being able to do online by myself. DVC will just need to provide us with an appropriate list of our account points status for each contract, and we can pick and choose which points we want to apply to a certain reservation.
Plus, I would love to have the option to set up waitlists online too, that way I could make sure they were set up correctly.
Oh, and I almost forgot, room requests would be great too. That way when you want to request "Upper Floor" and "Across from Bus Stop" you can type that in and be sure that they'll be put on your reservation worded that way, instead of what happens now when MS CM's just interpret what you tell them for something else... and your requests end up being "Top Floor" and "Near Bus Stop" which are close in meaning, but just not quite the same.
</font>
) This is not rocket science. If we can keep up with our contracts manually, we certainly have the ability to enter in a few numbers (or more likely, check a few boxes) on a screen.
